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IMF Argentina / Turkey

The IMF is holding ongoing technical talks with Argentina on how to best support that country’s economy, spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters Thursday (September 6) in Washington.

Argentine Minister of the Treasury Nicolas Dujovne led a delegation which has held discussions with the IMF on how to implement a support package to help shore up the economy and restore investor confidence.

Rice sought to reassure that the IMF and Argentina are in a partnership and that social protections remain in place to ensure there should not be a repeat of the civil unrest that hit the country in the wake of the 2002 economic downturn there.

“You know Argentina is very different today than the last time it engaged with the IMF, and the IMF is a very different institution from when it last engaged with Argentina,” Rice said

Rice was asked if cooperating with the IMF would be politically damaging to the government of Argentine President Mauricio Macri.

“I don’t think we should pre-suppose anything in terms of the ‘environment.’ But I know that the Argentine authorities are doing everything they can to build a supportive environment for the program. And I can only reiterate what Madame Lagarde has said recently: Argentina has the full support of the IMF,” Rice said.

Turkey has not requested aid from the IMF, Rice also announced.

“What I would say on Turkey is that we continue to monitor developments closely. I want to be clear that there has been no request from Turkey for an IMF program and we have had no indication of that nor that they are contemplating a request for financial assistance.”

He did note that the IMF has suggested that Turkey find ways to stabilize its macroeconomic position, and that part of restoring confidence is putting in place measures to ensure the independence of action by the central bank.

“We have said before to Turkey that in light of the ongoing market volatility we believe the authorities would benefit from demonstrating the clear commitment to sound economic policies to promote macroeconomic stability and reduce imbalances. And a critical part of this – we have said this before – will be to ensure the full operational independence of the central bank to pursue its mandate of achieving price stability. We remain engaged as with all member countries with Turkey through the Article IV process and so on. But just to be clear, no request from Turkey for financial assistance from the IMF.”